TransferBOOST (Bachelor's Opportunity Options that are Straightforward and Transparent) is a multi-year state-level initiative developed to provide students with affordable, quality, well-supported two- to four-year pathways. Affordability matters a great deal for transfer students, but it has typically not been understood or prioritized. The IHEP…

It's all about the relationships! How the librarian develops connections is key to the embedded process. This paper describes the path one librarian went through from January, 2010 through December, 2013 at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. With a little help … ok, a lot of help from coworkers, faculty, IT and most of all…

This report presents a multi-year study of how states are implementing their state college- and career-readiness standards. In this report, the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards project studied state efforts in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to foster effective…

The U.S. Department of Education's Policy to Performance project was funded in 2009 to build the capacity of state adult basic education (ABE) staff to develop and implement policies and practices that would support an ABE transition system. Policy to Performance states were selected though a competitive process. State adult education directors…

The School Improvement Grant (SIG) program funds reforms in low performing schools. Congress provided $3.5 billion for SIG in fiscal year 2009, and a total of about $1.6 billion was appropriated in fiscal years 2010-2012. SIG requirements changed significantly in 2010. Many schools receiving SIG funds must now use the funding for specific…

Much of what has been written about local, state, and national approaches related to the desegregation of public schools focuses on administrative concerns, policy debates, and other issues faced by schools, yet there are still many stories of initiatives designed to facilitate school integration in the twentieth century to be told. The lives, the…

The purpose of this study was to identify the impact the 1990 amendments to Carl D. Perkins Career and Applied Technology Act within-state allocation of federal funds had on the operational infrastructure of secondary career and technical education (OISCTE) in Virginia. Using the policy Delphi research technique, the researcher identified 161…

This bulletin draws on findings from an independent evaluation, conducted by the Urban Institute, of the Gang Reduction Program's (GRP) Impact in Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; North Miami Beach, Florida; and Richmond, Virginia, to examine how effectively these sites implemented the program. Following are some of the authors' key…

This article asks land grant university leaders and faculty to think of their role in community engagement not simply as the provision of technical assistance or of research and development prowess, but as an opportunity for social leadership. It explores the case of Virginia Tech's effort to develop a regionally based model to secure long-term…

This report presents the deliberations of the Appalachia Regional Advisory Committee (Appalachia RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. sections 9601 et. seq.) to assess the educational needs of the region. The Committee's report outlines the educational needs across the four states of…

In-depth interviews with 500 adoptive families who received postadoption services through Virginia's Adoptive Family Preservation (AFP) program paint a richly detailed picture of the challenges adoptive families face and what they need to sustain adoption for many years after finalization. Findings document the need for support in a variety of…

This paper presents a profile of Virginia's Star Quality Initiative prepared as part of the Child Care Quality Rating System (QRS) Assessment Study. The profile consists of several sections and their corresponding descriptions including: (1) Program Information; (2) Rating Details; (3) Quality Indicators for Center-Based Programs; (4) Indicators…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

This report, prepared by the Virginia Department of Education and presented to the U.S. Department of Education, proposes that Virginia will continue the implementation of successful initiatives and strategies to build capacity to prepare, recruit, and retain high quality teachers at both the local and state levels. Additionally, several new…